i don't post a lot of gamedev partially because of the gif upload size limit, but i had a nice short one;
so the girlfriend mechanics has been something i've been playing with a ton, and have tried so many different versions. i made a big push on it and had the 'gf_list' so fighters could have a whole team of rotating assists they could call after i had made a commit towards focusing solely on 1v1 combat. assist would work in a way where you could press the assist button at any time (except while getting hurt) and you would activate your next-in-line partner. this made it so in 1v1 duels i could have an opponent who was a group of weak enemies, and made it easy to add for player and computer since it was just an asynchronous call.
however, after a lot of other changes (enemy ai being better at following rules, enemies being able to pass through each other, enemies being able to do some light 'pathing' to position and guard an area, the player being able to target an enemy outside of duels) i had a format for doing group fights against simple enemies again, which greatly reduced the need for having the big groups in a 1v1.
at the same time, i really wanted the partners to be able to just, -do more- so i'm currently trying out an attack link system. the C attack button for the player is an 'empty' action for their controlled character, which signals their partner to use the assigned action. what this means is (as in this clip) Suu using 5C makes Matsu appear and do her 5H attack. Suu's 5C has the same attributes as a 5H (can be canceled into after Light attacks, can cancel further into a special), so the attack works in a weird little -shared- way. an example of what that means is generally 5H attacks are allowed to be canceled into a jump afterwards on hit. If Matsu lands the strike, Suu is allowed to jump, as if she landed the attack. the button link like this also means that Suu can link a full set of moves, Suu 2C > Matsu 2H, Suu 214C > Matsu 214H, etc.
The nice addition of this feature is it adds another way to customize the player moveset, broadens the available actions, and is just really flashy and fun. additionally, it should be possible to get enemies to be able to use this feature as well. i have some stuff to figure out with enemies being 'smart' enough to aim someone else's attacks, but i think i know how to get that in.
anyways, it'll be a balancing nightmare, but hopefully in a fun way
